US highway endpoints in Walterboro, SC
1933-present
US 401 [ii] was commissioned in 1933 to run from Raleigh NC to Walterboro. One might question whether this instance of US 401 was ever actually signposted, since already by 1935 US 15 had been rerouted such that it subsumed US 401, ending in Walterboro...
...but a 1930s postcard from a hotel formerly located at the junction with US 17 provides compelling evidence that US 401 was real:
|
US 401 -- and then, for the next several years, US 15 -- ended two blocks south of US 15's current terminus. That was because US 17 came in on Hampton Street (not Wichman Street, as it does today). Hampton is now SC hwy. 63, and signage where it meets Jefferies Boulevard looks like this:
Originally, that was southbound US 17, which continued to the left on Jefferies. To the right may have briefly been the south beginning of US 401, and then -- for a much longer period -- US 15.
|
The 1951 SC official state highway map was the only issue that ever showed the US 15 designation extending south of Walterboro, ending just south of Yemassee at its junction with US 17 in Pocataligo:
|
The very next issue showed US 15 ending in Walterboro again, while the road between there and Yemassee was designated as US 17 Alternate (as it is to the present day). Historic AASHO documents confirm that the US 15 extension was approved, although that decision was reversed after about six months, which makes one question whether the extension was ever actually signposted. However, the description of this motel's location suggests that it was real...
...and remarkably a photo exists that proves US 15 was indeed signposted to Pocataligo:
|
The south beginning of US 15 is to the right (at far right can be seen the same assembly shown two photos above).
Research and/or photo credits: Justin Cozart; David Dawson; Alex Nitzman; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Mac Watkins
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Dec. 29, 2023.
last updated Dec. 29, 2023.